Cigarette and apparatus and method for producing the same



March 31, 1931. u. L. GOTTLIEB CIGARETTE AND APFARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME Filed Nov.

'11, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 U. L. GOTTLIEB March 31, 1931.

CIGARETTE AND APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 11, 1927 In the drawings Patehted M... 31, 1931 U I-T D STATES,

PATENT OFFICE-1 umucn 1.. commas.

or NEW YORK, N. Y.

GIGABETTEAND Arrm'rus AND M THOD FOR rnonucme. 'rnu sum vApplication filed QNovember 11, 1927. Serialv No. 232,544.

and throat sometimes with injurious effects,

and to overcome this difiiculty, I propose to provide cigarettes with a sanitary 'mouth piece or cap which is in the nature of a strainer, permitting draft of air or smoke therethrough, but preventing the passage of loose particles of tobacco. Such a strainer can veryconveniently be formed of various kinds of perforate material, but I prefer to employ a cotton gauze or similar textile, as will be hereinafter described.

An important object of the present invention is to-provide a novel method for applying such sanitary caps to cigarettes in a commercially practical continuous process.

Another object of the invention s to' provide an apparatus, whereby the novel method can be carried out at low cost. I

Another object is to provide such an caps are assembled automatically. I

Another object is to provide such an appa-r ratus'lof simple construction as Wlll be hereinafter set forth, illustrated in the accompanyin drawin s and specifically pointed I out int e appen ed' claims.

plication, 1

. Figure 1'is a plan view of'a strip of textile material, such as may be employed in the novel method,

- Fig. 2 is a similar view after. the fabric has been operated on by the slitting die,

Fig. 3 illustrates the next step in the method, wherein the caps have been punched out,

5 from thestri'p'of fabric,

' cigarette,

pp ratus, wherein the cigarettes and sanitaryforming part 'of this ap- Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of one of the 1 Fig. dis a side elei ation of, the-completely I assembled cigarette and cap, and

F ig. 7 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through one form of mechanism adapt-- ed to carry out the novel method.

Referring particularly to Figures 1 to 6 inelusive, one embodiment of the invention has been illustratedas employing a striplO of cotton gauze or other suitable loosely woven fabricwhich may be suitably operated upon at spaced intervals to form radial slits 11- suitably grouped in series and the slits of each series being relatively spaced from each other. The un-slitted-portion 12 between the con verging ends of the slits .11 is of substantially the same area as the end of a cigarette, and in the final assembly, said portion 12 is is adapted to constitute a strainer for said 7 end of the cigarette. The strip 10 is then operated on by a circular punch or the like as shown in Figure 3, whereby to completely v cut out substantially circular blanks 1-3, the V peripheries of which intersect the radial slits 11 and define a plurality of segmental portions 14: which surround the central portion 12. Said segmental portions 14- are adapted tobe deflected as shown in Figures 5 and 6 Iin'such a'manner as tolie a ainst the side I portions of a cigarette A an to be secured theretoby means of a suitable adhesive.

In forming the improved sanitary caps and applying them to the cigarettes, I prefer to employ a continuous process which may be convenlently carried out by apparatus such as is illustrated inFigure 7. Said apparatus comp-rises a slitting die lfi'and a blank- 3 mg die 17 through which the sheet material gressively fed step by step through the instrumentality of an intermittent motion mechasuch as the strip '10, is adapted'fto' be pronism 18. The strip 10 is guided over a lu-' -rality of rollers 19 and between a pair 0 opposed pressure rollers'20and 21, said roller- 21 being an idler and the roller20 be1ng connected ,with the intermittent mechanism, 18

in such a manner as to'draw the strip 10 in the direction indicated by the arrows.

The slitting die 16 comprises a stationary frame 22 below which isdisposed'in spaced relation a bed'plate 23, and mounted for reciprocation in-the frame 22 in opposition to said bed plate is a plunger 24 having at its lower end a plurality of slitting knives 25 which are adapted to form-the slits 11. The plunger 24 is actuated by a link or connecting rod 26, the'other end of which is pivotally connected as at 27- to a crank 28, which in turn'is rotatable on a shaft 29.

The blanking die 17 preferably comprises a tubular guide 30 which is mounted in opposition to an anvil member 31 and between which the strip 10 is adapted to be fed. Said guide 30 and anvil 31 are respectively provided with aligned bores 32 and 33 of a diameter slightly larger than that of the cigarettes to be operated upon. Reciprocable in the upper end of the bore 32 is a plunger 34 of substantially cylindrical form and having its upper end connected as at 35 by means of a rod 36 of a crank 37. The crank 37 is secured to a shaft 38 which is rotatably mounted in a suitable journal or hearing 39 and may be provided with a gear 40 meshing with a simi-- ar gear 41 on the shaft 29 in such a manner that both the slitting die and the blanking die will be operated in proper synchronism. Slidably mounted upon the exterior of the guide member 30 and adjacent the lower end thereof is a sleeve 42, the lower end of which is suitably sharpened in such a manner as to co-operate with the anvil 31 to effect the blanking operation, and said sleeve 42 is reciprocated'through the instrumentality of a link 43 connected at 44 to the plunger 34.

Disposed between the respective dies 16 and 17, is a suitable gumming apparatus which may be of any ordinary or preferred form, but which has been shown in Figure-7 as comprising a tank 45 for containing a fluid adhesive material to be applied to one surface of the strip "10 through the instrumentality of the adjacent guide ,roller 19. Communicating with the bore 32 of the guide member 30 is an inclined trough 46 by means of which the cigarettes A may be successively fed to the interior of the blanking die and presented in endwise relation to the central portion 12 'of the blank 13 as previously described. The cigarettes may be supplied to said trough 46 from a suitable hopper or directly from the delivery endof acigarette making maeh'ineQ The slitting knives 25 and blanking sleeve 42 are adapted to operate upon the strip 10 at such times as said strip is stationary, and im- 'mediatelyiafter the blanking sleeve 42 has punched the material to complete the blank 13, the plunger 34 moves downwardly a suflicient distance to force a cigarette which has previously been fed to the bore 32 downwardly against said blank and causes the said-cigarette to carry the blank through the "bones of the anvil 31. In so doing, the segmental portions 14 of the blank are automatically deflected in such a manner. as to lieagainst the upwardly, permitting the strip 10 to be again fed forwardly and at the same time, another cigarette to be supplied to the interior of the blanking die, after which'the operation is repeated. j

The intermittent motion mechanism 18 has been specifically illustrated as of the type well known as a Geneva movement, but, of course, other conventional mechanisms'may be employed for this purpose. Said Geneva movement receives its motion through a pair of meshing gears 4"( and 48, the latter of which is mounted for rotation withthe shaft 38. A pulley 49 is provided on the shaft 29 by means of which power may be supplied for operation of the machine through the instrumentality of the belt 50. The waste material which is drawn through the dies and between the rollers 20 and 21 may be disposed I of preferably by permittin it to drop into a suitable receptacle from WTllCll the agcumulation may be periodically removed.

From the foregoing, it will'be evident that I have provided a very simple'mechanism for automatically applying the sanitary caps or mouth pieces to the cigarettes, and the-operation of the machine is entirely automatic and continuous, and'therefore, capable of being carried out with a minimum of labor. Obviously, the invention issusceptible of numerous modifications in the details of construction of the apparatus and in the novel steps of the method, and the right is herein reserved to make such changes as fall Within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a cigarette capping machine, means for feeding a web of sheet material intermittently, means for cutting cap blanks from said web over a tubular anvil, andmeans for projecting cigarettes through the anvil whereby to apply the caps to the ends thereof."

2. In a cigarette capping machine, means for feeding a web of sheet material intermittently, means for providing spaced radial slits in said web, means for cutting a blank from the web with its periphery intersecting said radial slits, and means for automatically applying the so-formed blank to one end of a cigarette.

3. In a cigarette capping machine, means for feeding a web of sheet material intermittently, means for providing spaced radial .slits in said web, means for cutting a blank from theweb over a tubular anvil with its jecting the cigarette for presenting a c i arette in endwise relation to the center of the Ink, and means for prothrough the anvil. where- 'by to bend the blank portions between the slits over against the sides of the cigarette.

4. In a cigarette capping machine, a slitting die having a plurality of spaced radial knife portions, a tubular blanking die, means for intermittently feeding sheet material progressively through said dies means for simultaneously actuating said dies between the feeding movements of the sheet material, means for presenting cigarettes one at a time to the interior of the blanking die, in endwise relation to the sheet material thereunder, and means for propelling thecigarette against said material and to force the same through the die immediately after the blanking operation has been effected.

5. In a cigarette capping machine, a slitting die having a plurality of spaced radial knife portions, a tubular blanking die,

7 means for intermittently-feeding sheet ma terial progressively through said dies, means for gumming'fone surface of the sheet material inits passage from the slitting die to the blanking die, means for actuating said dies between the feedin movements of the sheet material, means or presenting cigarettes one at a time through the blanking die in endwise relation to the gummed surface of the sheet material, and means for ejecting the cigarette from within the-blanking die after the blanking operation whereby to automatically secure the cap to the end of the cigarette.

6'. The methodof providing a cigarette or the like with asanitary cap, which consists in providing a blank cap, slitting the cap radlally' about its central region to provide radial segments between the slits from the central region to the periphery of the cap, and then applying the central region to the end of the cigarette and the so-formed radial segments to the side of the cigarette.v

7 The method of providing a cigarette or the like with a sanitary cap, which consists in providing a blank cap, coating one sur- 7 face of the blank cap with adhesive, slitting the coated blank cap radially about itscentral region 'to provide the coated radial segments between the slits from the centralre gion to the periphery of the cap, and then applying the coated central regionto the end of the .cigaretteand the-coated so-formed radial segments to theside of the cigarette. 8.- In a cigarette capping machine, a

- blanking die for cutting blank caps, means for intermittently feeding a web of sheet material to the blanking die, means for actuating said die between the feeding movements of the web to cut out blank caps in the intervals ,between the feeding movements, and- .means for automatically projecting cigarettes to apply one end of each to an individual cut-out blank cap,

9. In a cigarette capping machine, a blanking die for cutting blank caps, means for in termittentl feeding a web of sheet material to the bla 'ng die, means for gumming one vals between the feeding movements, andmeans for automatically projecting and applying ci arettes to fit one end of each cigarette-to t egummed side of an individual cut-out blank cap.

10. In combination, a tubular anvil, a tubular guide-in alignment with the anvil, means for feeding a web of sheet material between the guide and anvil, a blanking sleeve associated with the guide for producing cap blanks from the web on the anvil, means for introducing cigarettes into the guide, a plunger in theguide for moving the introduced cigarettes each; with an end thereof into a produced cap blank,'and means for opcrating said blanking sleeve and said plunger.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as w my invention, I have si ed my name hereto. ULRIC L. GOTTLIEB. 

